Optical fibers are used in communications systems to transmit information over networks by sending pulses of light through the optical fiber. Optical fibers are generally used to allow transmission over longer distances and at higher data rates than traditional metal-wire cables. Optical fibers may also have less loss and have greater immunity to electromagnetic interference than metal-wire cables.
Optical fiber communication systems typically include an optical transceiver module which connects to an electrical signal source module, sometimes referred to as a network integrated circuit (IC), and converts an electrical signal (i.e. a non-optical signal) from the network IC into an optical signal for communication over an optical fiber and vice versa. Optical transceiver modules are generally made and configured in accordance with various standards and thus there are different types of optical transceiver module depending on the standard in question. These optical transceiver modules generally vary based on characteristics such as the number of lanes, the data rate at which each lane transmits, or the like. Here, ‘lane’ generally refers to a receive/transmit pair of electrical differential pair signals. A ‘port’ refers to a group of lanes that function together to form a single logical connection point.
The data rate for each lane of an electrical signal source module or optical transceiver module is typically standards based and the data rates are typically: 10 Gigabit Ethernet (“10GE”)(See IEEE standard 802.3ae), 40 Gigabit Ethernet (“40GE”) (See IEEE standard 802.3ba), and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (“100GE”) (See IEEE standard 802.3ba). In some cases, the data rate for each lane of the electrical signal source may be as per the OTN (Optical Transport Networking) standard. The OTN standard is a replacement for the SONET/SDN standard. OTN typically has: ITU OTL4.4 which is four lanes of 27.95 Gbps (comparable to 100GE), ITU OTL3.4 which is four lanes of 11.18 Gbps (comparable to 40GE), and/or ITU OTL2.1 which is one lane of 11.18 Gbps (comparable to 10GE). It will be understood that other standards and data rates may also be available or become available in the future.
Because of changing standards, differences in data rates on different equipment, the need for interoperability, and the like, there is a need for an improved system, apparatus and method of supporting multiple-interfaces for the various electrical signal source modules and optical transceiver modules that are available in the marketplace.